Alien 1979 - 35mm scan opportunity (a WIP)

With BATB almost funded, I have the opportunity to scan an Alien print. This fabulous print is faded red, no doubt missing many frames, and was described as being “splicy”! Here are some sample frames:

Once scanned this will passed on to someone for restoration and release. Special thanks go to Williarob for putting me in contact with the collector.

Funding target: 800€
Donations so far: 300€

List of donors:

• Anonymous
• Anonymous
• Anonymous
• Anonymous
• freedomland

If you are interested in helping please contact me by PM.

Check out the soundtracks in the photos - they all look like glorious mono… except the first one that looks to be stereo! We might end up with quite a funky soundtrack. 😄

By the way if there’s any Britons here, Alien is playing in 70MM at the Prince Charles Cinema in London on the 1st, 3rd, and 7th of June (details here). If you go please take notes and then tell us how it compares to the Bluray colour grading, contrast, and black levels. 😃

To me they look like dual-mono, but I’m not an expert.

RU.08 said:

By the way if there’s any Britons here, Alien is playing in 70MM at the Prince Charles Cinema in London on the 1st, 3rd, and 7th of June (details here). If you go please take notes and then tell us how it compares to the Bluray colour grading, contrast, and black levels. 😃

No promises but I’ll try. 😃

Looks good, how many reels are there in total?

Good question, I don’t know off-hand. We think it’s a UK print given that we found it in Europe, although it could be a US print. And of course there are two or three different stocks (probably all Kodak stocks) in the print.

Well seeing as there are no surviving original Alien prints that are not fading, I think this is a really important project to get done.

I’ll send you a PM, I hope enough people chip in to get this done before the prints are all faded too far to be salvageable.

Come on guys this needs to happen!

Yeah, I might be able to give a little help on this one.

Please do! 😄

dvdmike said:

Had tickets but had to miss it sadly, I saw aliens there tho

Oh I’m sorry to hear that! Did anyone else manage to see it?

Yes, we should be able to get onto it soon. I’ll need some donations to make it happen of course, so feel free to send me a private message if you’re interested in making a pledge towards the scanning cost!

Okay, looks like we’re finally ready to scan. If you offered a donation now would be the time to get in contact with me!

Here are some sample frames:

I have about €200 in donations so far, from three four donors. Thanks go to all who’ve donated!

Alien has been scanned, but we haven’t paid for the scan yet. We need to pay 720€, if anyone is able to donate to this please get in contact ASAP! This won’t slow down Cinderella and Pinocchio because those are with other scanners. BatB has already been paid in full and delivered to us.

Although it took a very long time (18 months!) I can say that we got a bargain with this one. The scanner has done a lot of extra work for us, even fade-correcting the scan and doing multiple re-scans for free to make sure that the colour was fully recoverable. If you can help please get in contact!

Anyone who donates will get early access to BatB previews.